PHONE thief Darren Alexander Rowat could not keep his fingers off other people's mobiles, even at York Magistrates Court.
While waiting in the courthouse lobby to be called before the bench, he spotted a probation officer's phone and walked off with it, prosecutor Emma Pearce said.
Although he was arrested shortly afterwards, he skipped bail and York magistrates had to have him arrested on warrant.
When he did make it into the courtroom, magistrates jailed him for 12 months: six for the courthouse theft, five for snatching two phones from parked cars and one month for four failures to attend court. He received three months concurrent for one handling offence, two shop thefts and another theft.
Rowat, 24, of Ordnance Lane, Fulford, York, admitted all the offences.
His solicitor, Colin Byrne, said that within minutes of stealing the probation officer's phone, he realised who it belonged to and brought it straight back to court. He committed offences to fund a heroin habit.
Updated: 10:14 Saturday, June 07, 2003
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